Glossary
Sales Discovery Process
Making a sale is a multi-step process for many businesses, especially those offering high-value products or services. Sales discovery is an early step in the buyer’s journey and typically the first step in which a lead and sales person connect.
Salespeople need to understand why a prospect is interested in your product or service. This information drives other aspects of the sales process and ultimately helps sales staff convert leads into customers. Ultimately, discovery in the sales process is a vital step towards landing the sale.
What exactly is the sales discovery process? How can product demos and sales enablement training help this step of the sales process? The answers can help you prepare your sales team to qualify leads and convert them into customers.
What is the Sales Discovery Process?
The sales discovery process is typically the first time a lead and a salesperson interact. Ideally, it is an open-ended conversation that helps qualify the prospect, discover their exact needs from your offering, and understand their company.
Sales discovery begins before the prospect and salesperson interact, however. Therefore, sales staff should research the lead based on any information they have so that they can ask meaningful and direct questions, rather than asking for information that they could have gathered ahead of time.
A compelling sales discovery call will inform future steps in the sales process or perhaps determine that they are not a qualified prospect at all.
Why is Technical Sales Discovery Essential Today?
As the world becomes more connected and technical, so is the sales discovery process. Technical sales discovery includes determining the systems and tech stack a prospect is already using. How well does your product or service align with the prospect’s systems?
Uncovering a technical hurdle might mean the lead isn’t qualified to continue. On the other hand, it may also present an opportunity to sell add-on products or recommend a partner to overcome the roadblock.
Skipping the technical aspect of the sales discovery process can mean identifying a compatibility issue during the onboarding process, which will almost certainly be frustrating for everyone involved and may end up losing the sale altogether.
Top Benefits of Using a Sales Demo Environment
Sales demos help a prospect gain a deeper understanding of your company’s offerings and make them think about how it will address their pain point or need.
Leveraging a virtual sales demo environment creates an even more appealing experience for leads and gives them hands-on experience with your service. Let’s explore some notable benefits of using a sales demo environment.
Show How Your Service Addresses Pain Points
Before launching the demo, a sales representative should understand exactly why the prospect is interested in your product or service. Then, the sales rep can focus on features of your offering that directly relate to why the prospect is interested.
A common mistake is for sales staff to launch into a seemingly pre-written pitch covering every possible product feature. When the sales rep gets to the features that might help land the sale, the prospect has already stopped paying attention.
Instead, sales demos should focus on exactly how your offer tackles the challenges you uncovered during the beginning of the sales discovery process.
Give the Prospect Hands-On Experience
Creating a sales demo environment allows the prospect to use your product or service rather than observing a salesperson navigate a live system.
A common selling point for software solutions is that they’re easy to use. A sales demo environment allows prospects to experience that directly before or discover that it’s not as easy as expected.
Ultimately, a sales environment helps further qualify a lead by letting them experience your platform directly. After the demo, they’ll hopefully be more excited to become customers. However, they may also discover that your product isn’t the right fit for them, freeing up your sales rep to move on to other leads.
Why Your Salespeople Need Sales Enablement Training
Sales enablement training empowers your entire sales department to understand the sales discovery process of your company. The ultimate goal of this type of training is to empower your sales team with sales readiness.
What can you expect after conducting effective sales enablement training? Your sales team will be ready to conduct a compelling sales discovery call, have effective product demos in virtual environments, and move qualified leads through the process of becoming a customer.
